It is often the case, in both home and office environments, that a computer user wishes to be notified immediately when a particular event takes place. Examples of such events comprise reception of faxes, incoming phone calls, incoming e-mail (electronic mail) messages, completion of tasks by a computer system, and detection of unauthorized access to a computer system. In addition, many computer systems now have the additional capability of receiving telephone voice mail messages. However, the user must be near enough to the computer to be able to view the monitor or to hear an audible indication in order to be notified of the occurrence of the desired event. Often the user, while they may be present in the home or office building, cannot, or does not wish to remain near the computer in order to personally monitor the system for the occurrence of the desired event.
Previous attempts to provide a solution to the problem have generally followed one of two approaches. The first approach employs a conventional paging system and is similar to the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,242 to Dawson. In this approach, the user wears a conventional pager, which is capable of receiving transmissions from a paging service provider. Upon the occurrence of a detectable event, the detecting system uses conventional dialing techniques to dial the paging service provider and input a message indicating that the detected event has occurred. The paging service provider then transmits the message to the pager using radio signals.
This approach presents several disadvantages. First, in addition to the costs of the hardware and software associated with the system, the user must typically pay a monthly charge to a paging service provider. Second, the reliability of the system is dependent on several external factors beyond the user's control or knowledge. The system must have access to a phone line and the phone line must be available for use by the paging system. Also, there must be an available (i.e. non-busy) phone line into the paging service provider's system. Additionally, the paging service provider's system must be operating properly. A breakdown in any one of these external systems can result in the failure to notify the user of an event. Finally, there can be unacceptable delays in transmitting the message to the user if the phone lines are busy, or if the paging service provider's system introduces delays in message transmission.
A second approach utilizes a central system that receives messages which are then transmitted to a pager. This approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,408 to Will. In this approach, a central computer system receives messages from a variety of client systems. The central system then uses a radio transmitter to transmit a message on behalf of the client system to a conventional pager worn by a user. By incorporating the radio transmission means into the central server, this approach avoids the expense and uncertainties introduced through the use of a paging service provider. However, it shares some of the same disadvantages with the first approach. If the central system is inoperable, it is impossible to transmit messages representing event notifications on behalf of any of the client systems desiring to use the central server. In addition, the central system can become a bottleneck if there are a large number of client systems needing to send event notification messages, thereby introducing undesirable delays in transmitting the event notifications.
Therefore, what is needed is an integrated event notification system capable of notifying a user within a home or office building of events detected by a computer. The system should not require the use of a paging service provider. In addition, the system should be capable of notifying a user of a number of different types of events, including notification of incoming fax, e-mail or phone messages, the completion of tasks or processes by the computer, or unauthorized access to the computer. The system should be capable of transmitting notification of these events in as short a time as possible following the occurrence of an event. Finally, the system should be dependent on as few external systems as possible.